My visits to National Battlefields have always been meaningful, mainly for how they remind us of the sacrifices of our veterans (including many that never returned). One of the most memorable "Unknowns" I've encountered was Amos Humiston. His story provides a small glimpse into the work required for any genealogist who wishes to find out where one of their War Dead may be interred.
This story describes the efforts of one man who wanted to see his fallen comrades return home. The 91-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor has spent the last 20 years cataloging the unidentified dead from the Japanese attack on Hawaii on December 7, 1941. There were once several hundred Unknowns, each buried in a grave in the "Punchbowl" at the National Cemetery of the Pacific (I was fortunate enough to be able to visit that site in 2009 - it was sobering to see the rows of stones, each flat against the ground, that filled the caldera of an extinct volcano). This veteran was not content to leave them there - he prodded the government to provide additional details until stones could be properly marked (with ship names) and additional data provided that connected people to their lost brothers, sons and fathers.
In the post New Year's Resolutions (2012), I discussed one goal of transcribing a source record that could provide assistance to another researcher. Perhaps that is all that most people could ever hope to do for their fellow genealogists. However, you can see here that there are often folks in this world who see such an effort as just a starting point. Following their inspiration, go out there and look for a cemetery with tall grass and start transcribing! Happy hunting...
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